George Washington: Farmer by Paul Leland Haworth

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1774 on one hundred thirty-five. Presently he found himself overstockedand in 1778 expressed a wish to barter for land some "Negroes, of whom Ievery day long more to get clear of[7]." Still later he declared that hehad more negroes than could be employed to advantage on his estate, butwas principled against selling any, while hiring them out was almost asbad. "What then is to be done? Something or I shall be ruined."

[7] In 1754 he bought a "fellow" for L40.5, another named Jack for L52.5and a woman called Clio for L50. Two years later he acquired two negromen and a woman for L86, and from Governor Dinwiddie a woman and childfor L60. In 1758 he got Gregory for L60.9. Mount Vernon brought himeighteen more. Mrs. Washington was the owner of a great many slaves,which he called the "dower Negroes," and with part of the money shebrought him he acquired yet others. The year of his marriage he boughtWill for L50, another fellow for L60, Hannah and child for L80 and nineothers for L406. In 1762 he acquired two of Fielding Lewis for L115,seven of Lee Massey for L300, also one-handed Charles for L30. Two yearslater he bought two men and a woman of the estate of Francis Hobbs forL128.10, the woman being evidently of inferior quality, for she costonly L20. Another slave purchased that year from Sarah Alexander wasmore valuable, costing L76. Judy and child, obtained of Garvin Corbin,cost L63. Two mulattoes, Will and Frank, bought of Mary Lee in 1768,cost L61.15 and L50, and Will became famous as a body servant; Adam andFrank, bought of the same owner, cost L38. He bought five more slaves in1772. Some writers say that this was his last purchase, but it iscertain that thereafter he at least took a few in payment of debts.

In 1786 he took a census of his slaves on the Mount Vernon estate. Onthe Mansion House Farm he had sixty-seven, including Will or Billy Lee,who was his "val de Chambre," two waiters, two cooks, three drivers andstablers, three seamstresses, two house maids, two washers, fourspinners, besides smiths, a waggoner, carter, stock keeper, knitters andcarpenters. Two women were "almost past service," one of them being "oldand almost blind." A man, Schomberg, was "past labour." Lame Peter hadbeen taught to knit. Twenty-six were children, the youngest being Deliaand Sally. At the mill were Miller Ben and three coopers. On the wholeestate there were two hundred sixteen slaves, including manydower negroes.

If our Farmer took any special pains to develop the mental and moralnature of "My People," as he usually called his slaves, I have found norecord of it. Nor is there any evidence that their sexual relations wereother than promiscuous--if they so desired. Marriage had no legal basisamong slaves and children took the status of their mother. Instancesoccurred in which couples remained together and had an affection fortheir families, but the reverse was not uncommon. This state of affairsgoes far toward explaining moral lapses among the negroes of to-day.

I have found only one or two lists of the increase of the slaves, onebeing that transmitted by James Anderson, manager, in February, 1797, tothe effect that "there are 3 Negro Children Born, & one dead--at RiverFarm 1; born at Mansion house, Lina 1; at Union Farm 1 born & onedead--It was killed by Worms. Medical assistance was called--But themothers are very inattentive to their Young."

Just why the managers, when they carefully mentioned the arrival ofcalves, colts, lambs and mules, did not also transmit news of the adventof the more valuable two-legged live stock, is not apparent. In manyreports, however, in accounting for the time of slaves, occur suchentries as: "By Cornelia in child bed 6 days." Occasionally the fact andsex of the increase is mentioned, but not often.

Washington was much more likely to take notice of deaths than ofincreases. "Dorcas, daughter of Phillis, died, which makes 4 Negroeslost this winter," he wrote in 1760. He strove to safeguard the healthof his slaves and employed a physician by the year to attend to them,the payment, during part of the time at least, being fifteen pounds perannum. In 1760 this physician was a certain James Laurie, evidently nota man of exemplary character, for Washington wrote, April 9, 1760,"Doctr. Laurie came here. I may add Drunk." Another physician was aDoctor Brown, another Doctor William Rumney, and in later years it wasWashington's old friend Doctor Craik. I have noticed two instances ofWashington's sending slaves considerable distances for medicaltreatment. One boy, Christopher, bitten by a dog, went to a "specialist"at Lebanon, Pennsylvania, for treatment to avert madness, and another,Tom, had an operation performed on his eyes, probably for cataract.

When at home the Farmer personally helped to care for sick slaves. Hehad a special building erected near the Mansion House for use as ahospital. Once he went to Winchester in the Shenandoah region especiallyto look after slaves ill with smallpox "and found everything in theutmost confusion, disorder, and backwardness. Got Blankets and everyother requisite from Winchester, and settied things on the best footingI could." As he had had smallpox when at Barbadoes, he had no fear ofcontagion.

Among the entries in his diary are: "Visited my Plantations and foundtwo negroes sick ... ordered them to be blooded." "Found that lighteninghad struck my quarters and near 10 Negroes in it, some very bad but byletting blood recovered." "Found the new negro Cupid ill of a pleurisyat Dogue Run Quarter and had him brot home in a cart for better care ofhim.... Cupid extremely ill all this day and night. When I went to bed Ithought him within a few hours of breathing his last." However, Cupidrecovered.

In his contracts with overseers Washington stipulated proper care of theslaves. Once he complained to his manager that the generality of theoverseers seem to "view the poor creatures in scarcely any other lightthan they do a draught horse or ox; neglecting them as much when theyare unable to work; instead of comforting and nursing them when they lyeon a sick bed." Again he wrote:

"When I recommended care of and attention to my negros in sickness, itwas that the first stage of, and the whole progress through thedisorders with which they might be seized (if more than a slightindisposition) should be closely watched, and timely applications andremedies be administered; especially in the pleurisies, and allinflammatory disorders accompanied with pain, when a few day's neglect,or want of bleeding might render the ailment incurable. In such casessweeten'd teas, broths and (according to the nature of the complaint,and the doctor's prescription) sometimes a little wine, may be necessaryto nourish and restore the patient; and these I am perfectly willing toallow, when it is requisite."

Yet again he complains that the overseers "seem to consider a Negro muchin the same light as they do the brute beasts, on the farms, and oftentimes treat them as inhumanly."

His slaves by no means led lives of luxury and inglorious ease. Afriendly Polish poet who visited Mount Vernon in 1798 was shocked by thepoor quarters and rough food provided for them. He wrote:

"We entered some negroes' huts--for their habitations cannot be calledhouses. They are far more miserable than the poorest of the cottages ofour peasants. The husband and his wife sleep on a miserable bed, thechildren on the floor. A very poor chimney, a little kitchen furnitureamid this misery--a tea-kettle and cups.... A small orchard withvegetables was situated close to the hut. Five or six hens, each withten or fifteen chickens, walked there. That is the only pleasure allowedto the negroes: they are not permitted to keep either ducks or geeseor pigs."

Yet all the slaves he saw seemed gay and light-hearted and on Sundaysplayed at pitching the bar with an activity and zest that indicated thatthey managed to keep from being overworked and found some enjoymentin life.

To our Farmer's orderly and energetic soul his shiftless lazy blackswere a constant trial. In his diary for February, 1760, he records thatfour of his carpenters had only hewed about one hundred twenty feet oftimber in a day, so he tried the experiment of sitting down and watchingthem. They at once fell to with such energy and worked so rapidly thathe concluded that each one ought to hew about one hundred twenty-fivefeet per day and more when the days were longer.

A later set of carpenters seem to have been equally trifling, for ofthem he said in 1795: "There is not to be found so idle a set ofRascals.--In short, it appears to me, that to make even a chicken coop,would employ all of them a week."

"It is observed by the Weekly Report," he wrote when President, "thatthe Sowers make only Six Shirts a Week, and the last week Caroline(without being sick) made only five;--Mrs. Washington says their usualtask was to make nine with Shoulder straps, & good sewing:--tell themtherefore from me, that what _has_ been done _shall_ be done by fair orfoul means; & they had better make a choice of the first, for their ownreputation, & for the sake of peace and quietness otherwise they will besent to the several Plantations, & be placed at common labor under theOverseers thereat. Their work ought to be well examined, or it will bemost shamefully executed, whether little or much of it is done--and itis said, the same attention ought to be given to Peter (& I suppose toSarah likewise) or the Stockings will be knit too small for those forwhom they are intended; such being the idleness, & deceit ofthose people."

"What kind of sickness is Betty Davis's?" he demands on anotheroccasion. "If pretended ailments, without apparent causes, or visibleeffects, will screen her from work, I shall get no work at all fromher;--for a more lazy, deceitful and impudent huzzy is not to be foundin the United States than she is."

"I observe what you say of Betty Davis &ct," he wrote a little later,"but I never found so much difficulty as you seem to apprehend indistinguishing between _real_ and _feigned_ sickness;--or when a personis much _afflicted_ with pain.--Nobody can be very sick without having afever, nor will a fever or any other disorder continue long upon any onewithout reducing them.--Pain also, if it be such as to yield entirely toits force, week after week, will appear by its effects; but my people(many of them) will lay up a month, at the end of which no visiblechange in their countenance, nor the loss of an oz of flesh, isdiscoverable; and their allowance of provision is going on as if nothingailed them."

He not only deemed his negroes lazy, but he had also a low opinion oftheir honesty. Alexandria was full of low shopkeepers who would buystolen goods from either blacks or whites, and Washington declared thatnot more than two or three of his slaves would refrain from filchinganything upon which they could lay their hands.

[Illustration: Spinning House--Last Building to the Right]

[Illustration: The Butler's House and Magnolia Set out by Washington theYear of his Death]

He found that he dared not leave his wine unlocked, because the servantswould steal two glasses to every one consumed by visitors and thenallege that the visitors had drunk it all.

He even suspected the slaves of taking a toll from the clover andtimothy seed given them to sow and adopted the practice of having theseed mixed with sand, as that rendered it unsalable and also had theadvantage of getting the seed sown more evenly.

Corn houses and meat houses had to be kept locked, apples picked early,and sheep and pigs watched carefully or the slaves took full advantageof the opportunity. Nor can we at this distant day blame them very muchor wax so indignant as did their master over their thieveries. They wereheld to involuntary servitude and if now and then they got the better oftheir owner and managed to enjoy a few stolen luxuries they merely did alittle toward evening the score. But it was poor training forfuture freedom.

The black picture which Washington draws of slavery--from the master'sstandpoint--is exceedingly interesting and significant. The characterhe gives the slaves is commended to the attention of those persons whocontinually bemoan the fact that freedom and education have ruinedthe negroes.

One of the famous "Rules of Civility," which the boy Washington socarefully copied, set forth that persons of high degree ought to treattheir inferiors "with affibility & Courtesie, without Arrogancy." Thereis abundant evidence that when he came to manhood he was reasonablyconsiderate of his slaves, and yet he was a Master and ruled them inmartinet fashion. His advice to a manager was to keep the blacks at aproper distance, "for they will grow upon familiarity in proportion asyou will sink in authority." The English farmer Parkinson records thatthe first time he walked with General Washington among his negroes hewas amazed at the rough manner in which he spoke to them. This does notmean that Washington cursed his negroes as the mate of a MississippiRiver boat does his roustabouts, but I suspect that those who have heardsuch a mate can form an idea of the _tone_ employed by our Farmer thatso shocked Parkinson. Military officers still employ it towardtheir men.

Corporal punishment was resorted to on occasion, but not to extremes.The Master writes regarding a runaway: "Let Abram get his deserts whentaken, by way of example; but do not trust to Crow to give it tohim;--for I have reason to believe he is swayed more by passion than byjudgment in all his corrections." Tradition says that on one occasion hefound an overseer brutally beating one of the blacks and, indignant atthe sight, sprang from his horse and, whip in hand, strode up to theoverseer, who was so affrighted that he backed away crying loudly:"Remember your character, General, remember your character!" The Generalpaused, reprimanded the overseer for cruelty and rode off.

Among his slaves were some that were too unruly to be managed byordinary means. In the early seventies he had such a one on a plantationin York County, Will Shag by name, who was a persistent runaway, and whowhipped the overseer and was obstreperous generally. Another slavecommitted so serious an offense that he was tried under state law and>vas executed. When a bondman became particularly fractious he wasthreatened with being sent to the West Indies, a place held in as muchdread as was "down the river" in later years. In 1766 Washington sentsuch a fellow off and to the captain of the ship that carried the slaveaway he wrote:

"With this letter comes a negro (Tom) which I beg the favor of you tosell in any of the islands you may go to, for whatever he will fetch,and bring me in return for him

"One hhd of best molasses

"One ditto of best rum

"One barrel of lymes, if good and cheap

"One pot of tamarinds, containing about 10 lbs.

"Two small ditto of mixed sweetmeats, about 5 lbs. each. And theresidue, much or little, in good old spirits. That this fellow is both arogue and a runaway (tho he was by no means remarkable for the former,and never practiced the latter till of late) I shall not pretend todeny. But that he is exceedingly healthy, strong, and good at the hoe,the whole neighborhood can testify, and particularly Mr. Johnson and hisson, who have both had him under them as foreman of the gang; whichgives me reason to hope that he may with your good management sell well,if kept clean and trim'd up a little when offered for sale."

Another "misbehaving fellow" named Waggoner Jack was sent off in 1791and was sold for "one pipe and Quarter Cask" of wine. Somewhat later(1793) Matilda's Ben became addicted to evil courses and among otherthings committed an assault and battery on Sambo, for which he receivedcorporal punishment duly approved by our Farmer, whose earnest desire itwas "that quarrels be stopped." Evidently the remedy was insufficient,for not long after the absent owner wrote:

"I am very sorry that so likely a fellow as Matilda's Ben should addicthimself to such courses as he is pursuing. If he should be guilty of anyatrocious crime that would affect his life, he might be given up to thecivil authority for trial; but for such offenses as most of his colorare guilty of, you had better try further correction, accompanied byadmonition and advice. The two latter sometimes succeed where the firsthas failed. He, his father and mother (who I dare say are his receivers)may be told in explicit language, that if a stop is not put to hisrogueries and other villainies, by fair means and shortly, that I willship him off (as I did Waggoner Jack) for the West Indies, where he willhave no opportunity of playing such pranks as he is at presentengaged in."

A few of the negroes occupied positions of some trust andresponsibility. One named Davy was for many years manager of Muddy HoleFarm, and Washington thought that he carried on his work as well as didthe white overseers and more quietly than some, though rather negligentof live stock. Each year at killing time he was allowed two or threehundredweight of pork as well as other privileges not accorded to theordinary slave. Still his master did not entirely trust him, for in 1795we find that Washington suspected Davy of having stolen some lambs thathad been reported as "lost."

The most famous of the Mount Vernon negroes was William Lee, betterknown as Billy, whose purchase from Mary Lee has already been noticed.Billy was Washington's valet and huntsman and served with him throughoutthe Revolution as a body servant, rode with him at reviews and waspainted by Savage in the well-known group of the President and hisfamily. Naturally Billy put on airs and presumed a good deal upon hisposition. On one occasion at Monmouth the General and his staff werereconnoitering the British, and Billy and fellow valets gathered on anadjoining hill beneath a sycamore tree whence Billy, telescope in hand,surveyed the enemy with much importance and interest. Washington, with asmile, called the attention of his aides to the spectacle. About thesame time the British, noticing the group of horsemen and unable todistinguish the color of the riders, paid their respects to Billy andhis followers in the shape of a solid shot, which went crashing throughthe top of the tree, whereupon there was a rapid recession of coat tailstoward the rear.

Billy was a good and faithful servant and his master appreciated thefact. In 1784 we find Washington writing to his Philadelphia agent: "Themullatto fellow, William, who has been with me all the war, is attached(married he says) to one of his own color, a free woman, who during thewar, was also of my family. She has been in an infirm condition for sometime, and I had conceived that the connexion between them had ceased;but I am mistaken it seems; they are both applying to get her here, andtho' I never wished to see her more, I can not refuse his request (if itcan be complied with on reasonable terms) as he has served me faithfullyfor many years. After premising this much, I have to beg the favor ofyou to procure her a passage to Alexandria."

Next year while Billy and his master were engaged in surveying a pieceof ground he fell and broke his knee pan, with the result that he wascrippled ever after. When Washington started to New York in 1789 to beinaugurated Billy insisted upon accompanying him, but gave out on theway and was left at Philadelphia. A little later, by the President'sdirection, Lear wrote to return Billy to Mount Vernon, "for he cannot beof any service here, and perhaps will require a person to attend uponhim constantly ... but if he is still anxious to come on here thePresident would gratify him, altho' he will be troublesome--He has beenan old and faithful Servant, this is enough for the President to gratifyhim in every reasonable wish."

When Billy was at Mount Vernon he worked as a shoemaker. He kept carefulnote of visitors to the place and if one arrived who had served in theRevolution he invariably received a summons to visit the old negro andas invariably complied. Then would ensue a talk of war experiences whichboth would enjoy, for between those who had experienced the cold atValley Forge and the warmth of Monmouth there were ties that reachedbeyond the narrow confines of caste and color. And upon departure thevisitor would leave a coin in Billy's not unwilling palm.

As later noted in detail, Washington made special provision for Billyin his will, and for years the old negro lived upon his annuity. He wasmuch addicted to drink and now and then, alas, had attacks in which hesaw things that were not. On such occasions it was customary to send foranother mulatto named Westford, who would relieve him by letting alittle blood. There came a day when Westford arrived and proceeded toperform his customary office, but the blood refused to flow. Billywas dead.

Washington's kindness to Billy was more or less paralleled by histreatment of other servants. Even when President he would write lettersfor his slaves to their wives and "Tel Bosos" and would inclose themwith his own letters to Mount Vernon. He appreciated the fact thatslaves were capable of human feelings like other men and in 1787, whentrying to purchase a mason, he instructed his agent not to buy if by sodoing he would "hurt the man's feelings" by breaking family ties. Evenwhen dying, noting black Cristopher by his bed, he directed him to sitdown and rest. It was a little thing, but kindness is largely made up oflittle things.

The course taken by him in training a personal servant is indicated bysome passages from his correspondence. Writing from the Capital toPearce, December, 1795, regarding a young negro, Washington says:

"If Cyrus continues to give evidence of such qualities as would fit himfor a waiting man, encourage him to persevere in them; and if theyshould appear to be sincere and permanent, I will receive him in thatcharacter when I retire from public life if not sooner.--To be sober,attentive to his duty, honest, obliging and cleanly, are thequalifications necessary to fit him for my purposes.--If he possessthese, or can acquire them--he might become useful to me, at the sametime that he would exalt, and benefit himself."

"I would have you again stir up the pride of Cyrus," he wrote the nextMay, "that he may be the fitter for my purposes against I come home;sometime before which (that is as soon as I shall be able to fix ontime) I will direct him to be taken into the house, and clothes to bemade for him.--In the meanwhile, get him a strong horn comb and directhim to keep his head well combed, that the hair, or wool may grow long."

Once when President word reached his ears that he was being criticizedfor not furnishing his slaves with sufficient food. He hurriedlydirected that the amount should be increased and added: "I will nothave my feelings hurt with complaints of this sort, nor lye under theimputation of starving my negros, and thereby driving them to thenecessity of thieving to supply the deficiency. To prevent waste orembezzlement is the only inducement to allowancing them at all--for if,instead of a peck they could eat a bushel of meal a week fairly, andrequired it, I would not withold or begrudge it them."

There is good reason to believe that Washington was respected and evenbeloved by many of his "People." Colonel Humphreys, who was long atMount Vernon arranging the General's papers, wrote descriptive of thereturn at the close of the Revolution:

"When that foul stain of manhood, slavery, flowed, Through Afric's sons transmitted in the blood; Hereditary slaves his kindness shar'd, For manumission by degrees prepared: Return'd from war, I saw them round him press And all their speechless glee by artless signs express."

On the whole we must conclude that the lot of the Mount Vernon slaveswas a reasonably happy one. The regulations to which they had to conformwere rigorous. Their Master strove to keep them at work and to preventthem from "night walking," that is running about at night visiting.Their work was rough, and even the women were expected to labor in thefields plowing, grubbing and hauling manure as if they were men. Butthey had rations of corn meal, salt pork and salt fish, whisky and rumat Christmas, chickens and vegetables raised by themselves and now andthen a toothsome pig sequestered from the Master's herd. When the annualraces were held at Alexandria they were permitted to go out into theworld and gaze and gabble to their heart's content. And, not least ofall, an inscrutable Providence had vouchsafed to Ham one greatcompensation that whatever his fortune or station he should usually becheerful. The negro has not that "sad lucidity of mind" that curses hiswhite cousin and leads to general mental wretchedness and suicide.

Some of the Mount Vernon slaves were of course more favored than wereothers. The domestic and personal servants lived lives of culture andinglorious ease compared with those of the field hands. They formed thearistocracy of colored Mount Vernon society and gave themselves airsaccordingly.

Nominally our Farmer's slaves were probably all Christians, though Ihave found no mention in his papers of their spiritual state. Buttradition says that some of them at Dogue Run at least were Voudoo or"conjuring" negroes.

Washington owned slaves and lived his life under the institution ofslavery, but he loved it not. He was too honest and keen-minded not torealize that the institution did not square with the principles of humanliberty for which he had fought, and yet the problem of slavery was sovast and complicated that he was puzzled how to deal with it. But asearly as 1786 he wrote to John F. Mercer, of Virginia: "I never mean,unless some particular circumstances should compel me to it, to possessanother slave by purchase, it being among my _first_ wishes to see someplan adopted by which slavery in this country may be abolished by law."The running away of his colored cook a decade later subjected him tosuch trials that he wrote that he would probably have to break hisresolution. He did, in fact, carry on considerable correspondence tothat end and seems to have taken one man on trial, but I have found noevidence that he discovered a negro that suited him.

In 1794, in explaining to Tobias Lear his reasons for desiring to sellsome of his western lands, he said: "_Besides these I have anothermotive which_ makes me earnestly wish for these things--it is indeedmore powerful than all the rest--namely to liberate a certain species ofproperty which I possess very repugnantly to my own feelings; but whichimperious necessity compels, and until I can substitute some otherexpedient, by which expenses, not in my power to avoid (however well Imay be disposed to do it) can be defrayed."

Later in the same year he wrote to General Alexander Spotswood: "Withrespect to the other species of property, concerning which you ask myopinion, I shall frankly declare to you that I do not like even tothink, much less to talk of it.--However, as you have put the question,I shall, in a few words, give _my ideas_ about it.--Were it not then,that I am principled agt. selling negroes, as you would cattle at amarket, I would not in twelve months from this date, be possessed of oneas a slave.--I shall be happily mistaken, if they are not found to be avery troublesome species of property ere many years pass overour heads."

"I wish from my soul that the Legislature of the State could see thepolicy of a gradual abolition of slavery," he wrote to Lawrence Lewisthree years later. "It might prevent much future mischief."

His ideas on the subject were in accord with those of many other greatSoutherners of his day such as Madison and Jefferson. These men realizedthe inconsistency of slavery in a republic dedicated to the propositionthat all men are created equal, and vaguely they foresaw theirrepressible conflict that was to divide their country and was to befought out on a hundred bloody battle-fields. They did not attempt todefend slavery as other than a temporary institution to be eliminatedwhenever means and methods could be found to do it. Not until the cottongin had made slavery more profitable and radical abolitionism arose inthe North did Southerners of prominence begin to champion slavery aspraiseworthy and permanent.

And yet, though Washington in later life deplored slavery, he was humanand illogical enough to dislike losing his negroes and pursued runawayswith energy. In October, 1760, he spent seven shillings in advertisingfor an absconder, and the next year paid a minister named Green fourpounds for taking up a runaway. In 1766 he advertised rewards for thecapture of "Negro Tom," evidently the man he later sold in the WestIndies. The return of Henry in 1771 cost him L1.16. Several slaves werecarried away by the British during the Revolution and seem never to havebeen recovered, though the treaty of peace provided for the return ofsuch slaves, and Washington made inquiries concerning them. In 1796,apropos of a girl who had absconded to New England, he excused hisdesire to recapture her on the ground that as long as slavery was inexistence it was hardly fair to allow some to escape and to hold others.

A rather peculiar situation arose in 1791 with regard to some of his"People," His attorney general, Randolph, had taken some slaves toPhiladelphia, and the blacks took advantage of the fact that underPennsylvania law they could not be forced to leave the state againsttheir will. Fearing that some of his own servants might do likewise,Washington directed Lear to get the slaves back to Mount Vernon and toaccomplish it "under pretext that may deceive both them and the Public,"which goes to show that even George Washington had some of the guile ofthe serpent.

During this period he was loath to bring the fact that he was aslaveholder too prominently before the public, for he realized theprejudice already existing against the institution in the North. Whenone of his men absconded in 1795 he gave instructions not to let hisname appear in any advertisement of the runaway, at least not northof Virginia.

His final judgment on slavery is expressed in his will. "Upon thedecease of my wife it is my will and desire," he wrote, "that all theslaves which I hold _in my own right_ shall receive their freedom--Toemancipate them during her life, would tho earnestly wished by me, beattended with such insuperable difficulties, on account of theirintermixture by marriages with the Dower negroes as to excite the mostpainful sensations,--if not disagreeable consequences from the latter,while both descriptions are in the occupancy of the same proprietor, itnot being in my power under the tenure by which the dower Negroes areheld to manumit them."

The number of his own slaves at the time of his death was one hundredtwenty-four. Of dower negroes there were one hundred fifty-three, andbesides he had forty leased from a Mrs. French.

He expressly forbade the sale of any slave or his transportation out ofVirginia, and made provision for the care of the aged, the young andthe infirm. He gave immediate freedom to his mulatto man, callinghimself William Lee, or if he should prefer it, being physicallyincapacitated, he might remain in slavery. In either case he was to havean annuity of thirty dollars and the "victuals and cloaths he has beenaccustomed to receive." "This I give him as a testimony of my sense ofhis attachment to me and for his faithful services during therevolutionary War."

As a matter of fact, Mrs. Washington preferred to free her own and theGeneral's negroes as soon as possible and it was accordingly done beforeher death, which occurred in 1802.

One of the servants thus freed, by name Cary, lived to the alleged ageof one hundred fourteen years and finally died in Washington City. Hewas a personage of considerable importance among the colored populationof the Capital, and on Fourth of July and other parades would alwaysappear in an old military coat, cocked hat and huge cockade presented byhis Master. His funeral was largely attended even by white persons.

CHAPTER XIII

THE FARMER'S WIFE

Martha Dandridge's first husband was a man much older than herself andher second was almost a year younger. Before she embarked upon hersecond matrimonial venture she had been the mother of four children, andhaving lost two of these, her husband, her father and mother, she hadknown, though only twenty-seven, most of the vital experiences that lifecan give. Perhaps it was well, for thereby she was better fitted to bethe mate of a man sober and sedate in disposition and created by Natureto bear heavy burdens of responsibility.

In view of the important places her husband filled, it is astonishinghow little we really know of her. Washington occasionally refers to herin his letters and diaries, but usually in an impersonal way that givesus little insight into her character or activities. She purposelydestroyed almost all the correspondence that passed between her and herhusband and very little else remains that she wrote. From the fewletters that do survive it is apparent that her education was slender,though no more so than that of most women of her day even in the upperclass. She had a fondness for phonetic spelling, and her verbs andsubjects often indulged in family wrangles. She seems to have beenconscious of her deficiencies in this direction or at least to havedisliked writing, for not infrequently the General acted as heramanuensis. But she was well trained in social and domesticaccomplishments, could dance and play on the spinet--in short, wasbrought up a "gentlewoman." That she must in youth have possessed charmof person and manners is indicated by her subjugation of Daniel ParkeCustis, a man of the world and of much greater fortune than herself, andby her later conquest of Washington, for, though it be admitted in thelatter case that George may not have objected to her fortune, we can notescape the conclusion that he truly loved her.

In fact, the match seems to have been ideally successful in everyrespect except one. The contracting parties remained reasonably devotedto each other until the end and though tradition says that Martha wouldsometimes read George a curtain lecture after they had retired fromcompany, there remains no record of any serious disagreement. Though notbrilliant nor possessed of a profound mind, she was a woman of much goodsense with an understanding heart. Nor did she lack firmness or publicspirit. Edmund Pendleton relates that when on his way to the ContinentalCongress in 1774 he stopped at Mount Vernon, "She talked like a Spartanmother to her son on going to battle. 'I hope you will all stand firm--Iknow George will,' she said."

The poorest artisan in Boston with nothing to lose but his life did notembrace the patriot cause with any greater eagerness than did theseWashingtons with their broad acres and thousands of pounds on bond.

There is every reason to believe that Martha Washington was helpful toher husband in many ways. At home she was a good housewife and whenWashington was in public life she played her part well. No brilliantsallies of wit spoken by her on any occasion have come down to us, butwe know that at Valley Forge she worked day and night knitting socks,patching garments and making shirts for the loyal band of winterpatriots who stood by their leader and their cause in the darkest hourof the Revolution.

A Norristown lady who paid her a call in the little stone house thatstill stands beside the Schuylkill relates that "as she was said to beso grand a lady, we thought we must put on our best bibs and bands. Sowe dressed ourselves in our most elegant ruffles and silks, and wereintroduced to her ladyship. And don't you think we found her _knittingwith a specked apron on!_ She received us very graciously, and easily,but after the compliments were over, she resumed her knitting."

But the marriage was a failure in that there were no children. No doubtboth wanted them, for Washington was fond of young people and manyanecdotes are handed down of his interest in little tots. Some one hasremarked that he was deprived of offspring in order that he might becomethe Father of His Country.

Toward those near and dear to her Martha Washington was almost foolishlyaffectionate. In one of her letters she tells of a visit "inWestmoreland whare I spent a weak very agreabley. I carred my littlepatt with me and left Jackey at home for a trial to see how well I coudstay without him though we ware gon but won fortnight I was quiteimpatiant to get home. If I at aney time heard the doggs barke or anoise out, I thought thair was a person sent for me. I often fancied hewas sick or some accident had happened to him so that I think it isimpossible for me to leave him as long as Mr. Washington must stay whenhe comes down."

Any parent who has been absent from home under similar circumstances andwho has imagined the infinite variety of dreadful things that mightbefall a loved child will sympathize with the mother's heart--in spiteof the poor spelling!

Patty Custis was an amiable and beautiful girl who when she grew up cameto be called "the dark lady." But she was delicate in health. Somewriters have said that she had consumption, but as her stepfatherrepeatedly called it "Fits," I think it is certain that it was some formof epilepsy. Her parents did everything possible to restore her, but invain. Once they took her to Bath, now Berkeley Springs, for severalweeks and the expenses of that journey we find all duly set down byColonel Washington in the proper place. As Paul Leicester Ford remarks,some of the remedies tried savored of quackery. In the diary, forFebruary 16, 1770, we learn that "Joshua Evans who came here last Nightput an iron Ring upon Patey and went away after Breakfast." PerhapsEvans failed to make the ring after the old medieval rule from threenails or screws that had been taken from a disinterred coffin. At anyrate the ring did poor Patty little good and a year later "Mr. Jno.Johnson who has a nostrum for Fits came here in the afternoon." In thespring of 1773 the dark lady died.

Her death added considerably to Washington's possessions, but there isevery evidence that he gave no thought to that aspect of the matter."Her delicate health, or perhaps her fond affection for the only fathershe had ever known, so endeared her to the 'general', that he knelt ather dying bed, and with a passionate burst of tears prayed aloud thather life might be spared, unconscious that even then her spirit haddeparted." The next day he wrote to his brother-in-law: "It is an easiermatter to conceive than describe the distress of this Family: especiallythat of the unhappy Parent of our Dear Patey Custis, when I inform youthat yesterday removed the Sweet Innocent Girl [who] Entered into a morehappy & peaceful abode than any she has met with in the afflicted Pathshe hitherto has trod."

Before this John Parke Custis, or "Jacky," had given his stepfatherconsiderable anxiety. Jacky's mind turned chiefly from study to dogs,horses and guns and, in an effort, to "make him fit for more usefulpurposes than horse races," Washington put him under the tutorship of anAnglican clergyman named Jonathan Boucher, who endeavored to instructsome of the other gilded Virginia youths of his day. But Latin and Greekwere far less interesting to the boy than the pretty eyes of EleanorCalvert and the two entered into a clandestine engagement. In allrespects save one the match was eminently satisfactory, for the Calvertfamily, being descended from Lord Baltimore, was as good as any inAmerica, and Miss Nelly's amiable qualities, wrote Washington, hadendeared her to her prospective relations, but both were very young,Jack being about seventeen, and the girl still younger. While consentingto the match, therefore, Washington insisted that its consummationshould be postponed for two years and packed the boy off to King'sCollege, now Columbia. But Martha Washington was a fond and dotingmother and, as Patty's death occurred almost immediately, Jack's absencein distant New York was more than she could bear. He was, therefore,allowed to return home in three months instead of two years, and inFebruary, 1774, was wedded to the girl of his choice. Mrs. Washingtonfelt the loss of her daughter too keenly to attend, but sent thismessage by her husband:

"MY DEAR NELLY.--God took from me a Daughter when June Roses wereblooming--He has now given me another Daughter about her Age when Winterwinds are blowing, to warm my Heart again. I am as Happy as One soAfflicted and so Blest can be. Pray receive my Benediction and a wishthat you may long live the Loving Wife of my happy Son, and a LovingDaughter of

"Your affectionate Mother,

"M. WASHINGTON."

The marriage, it may be added here, sobered John Custis. He and hisbride established themselves at Abingdon on the Potomac, not far fromMount Vernon, and with their little ones were often visitors, especiallywhen the General was away to the war and Mrs. Washington was alone.Toward the close of the war Jack himself entered the army, rose to therank of colonel and died of fever contracted in the siege of Yorktown.Thus again was the mother's heart made sorrowful, nor did the Generalhimself accept the loss unmoved. He at once adopted the two youngestchildren, Eleanor and George Washington Parke, and brought them up inhis own family.

Eleanor Custis, or "Nelly," as she was affectionately called, grew up ajoyous, beautiful cultured girl, who won the hearts of all who saw her.The Polish poet, Julian Niemcewicz, who visited Mount Vernon in 1798,wrote of her as "the divine Miss Custis.... She was one of thosecelestial beings so rarely produced by nature, sometimes dreamt of bypoets and painters, which one cannot see without a feeling of ecstacy."As already stated, she married the General's nephew, Lawrence Lewis. InSeptember, 1799, Washington told the pair that they might build a houseon Grey's Heights on the Dogue Run Farm and rent the farm, "by all oddsthe best and most productive I possess," promising that on his death theplace should go to them. Death came before the house was built, butlater the pair erected on the Heights "Woodlawn," one of the mostbeautiful and pretentious places in Fairfax County.

George Washington Parke Custis grew up much such a boy as his fatherwas. He took few matters seriously and neglected the educationalopportunities thrown in his way. Washington said of him that "from hisinfancy I have discovered an almost unconquerable disposition toindolence in everything that did not tend to his amusements." But heloved the boy, nevertheless, and late in life Custis confessed, "we haveseen him shed tears of parental solicitude over the manifold errors andfollies of our unworthy youth." The boy had a good heart, however, andif he was the source of worry to the great man during the great man'slife, he at least did what he could to keep the great man's memorygreen. He wrote a book of recollections full of filial affection andLatin phrases and painted innumerable war pictures in which Washingtonwas always in the foreground on a white horse "with the Britishstreaking it." Washington bequeathed to him a square in the City ofWashington and twelve hundred acres on Four Mile Run in the vicinity ofAlexandria. Upon land near by inherited from his father Custis built thefamous Arlington mansion, almost ruining himself financially in doingso. Upon his death the estate fell to his daughter, Mrs. Robert E. Lee,and it is now our greatest national cemetery.

Mrs. Washington not only managed the Mount Vernon household, but shelooked after the spinning of yarn, the weaving of cloth and the makingof clothing for the family and for the great horde of slaves. At times,particularly during the Revolution and the non-importation days thatpreceded it, she had as many as sixteen spinning-wheels in operation atonce. The work was done in a special spinning house, which was wellequipped with looms, wheels, reels, flaxbrakes and other machinery. Mostof the raw material, such as wool and flax and sometimes even cotton,was produced upon the place and never left it until made up into thefinished product.

In 1768 the white man and five negro girls employed in the work produced815-3/4 yards of linen, 365-1/4 yards of woolen cloth, 144 yards oflinsey and 40 yards of cotton cloth. With his usual pains Washingtonmade a comparative statement of the cost of this cloth produced at homeand what it would have cost him if it had been purchased in England, andcame to the conclusion that only L23.19.11 would be left to defray theexpense of spinning, hire of the six persons engaged, "cloathing,victualling, wheels, &c." Still the work was kept going.

In non-importation days Mrs. Washington even made the cloth for two ofher own gowns, using cotton striped with silk, the latter being obtainedfrom the ravellings of brown silk stockings and crimson damaskchair covers.

The housewife believed in good cheer and an abundance of it, and thelarders at Mount Vernon were kept well filled. Once the Generalprotested to Lund Washington because so many hogs had been killed,whereupon the manager replied that when he put up the meat he hadexpected that Mrs. Washington would have been at home and that he knewthere would be need for it because her "charitable disposition is inthe same proportion as her meat house."

[Illustration: Weekly Report on the Work of the Spinners]

She had a swarm of relatives by blood and marriage and they visited herlong and often. The Burwells, the Bassetts, the Dandridges and all therest came so frequently that hardly a week passed that at least one ofthem did not sleep beneath the hospitable roof. Even her stepmother paidher many visits and, what is more, was strongly urged by the General tomake the place her permanent home. When Mrs. Washington was at homeduring the Revolution her son and her daughter-in-law spent most oftheir time there. After the Revolution her two youngest grandchildrenresided at Mount Vernon, and the two older ones, Elizabeth and Martha,were often there, as was their mother, who married as her second husbandDoctor Stuart, a man whom Washington highly esteemed.

It would be foolish to deny that Mrs. Washington did not take pleasurein the honors heaped upon her husband or that she did not enjoy theconsideration that accrued to her as First Lady of the Land. Yet publiclife at times palled upon her and she often spoke of the years of thepresidency as her "lost days." New York and Philadelphia, she said,were "not home, only a sojourning. The General and I feel like childrenjust released from school or from a hard taskmaster.... How many dearfriends I have left behind! They fill my memory with sweet thoughts.Shall I ever see them again? Not likely unless they come to me, for thetwilight is gathering around our lives. I am again fairly settled downto the pleasant duties of an old-fashioned Virginia-housekeeper, steadyas a clock, busy as a bee, and cheerful as a cricket."

That she did not overdraw her account of her industry is borne out by aMrs. Carrington, who, with her husband, one of the General's oldofficers, visited Mount Vernon about this time. She wrote:

"Let us repair to the Old Lady's room, which is precisely in the styleof our good old Aunt's--that is to say, nicely fixed for all sorts ofwork--On one side sits the chambermaid, with her knitting--on the other,a little colored pet learning to sew, an old decent woman, with hertable and shears, cutting out the negroes' winter clothes, while thegood old lady directs them all, incessantly knitting herself andpointing out to me several pair of nice colored stockings and gloves shehad just finished, and presenting me with a pair half done, which shebegs I will finish and wear for her. Her netting too is a great sourceof amusement and is so neatly done that all the family are proud oftrimming their dresses with it."

This domestic life was dear to the heart of our Farmer's wife, yet thehome-coming did not fail to awaken some melancholy memories. To Mrs.George Fairfax in England she wrote, or rather her husband wrote forher: "The changes which have taken place in this country since you leftit (and it is pretty much the case in all other parts of this State)are, in one word, total. In Alexandria, I do not believe there lives atthis day a single family with whom you had the smallest acquaintance. Inour neighborhood Colo. Mason, Colo. McCarty and wife, Mr. Chickester,Mr. Lund Washington and all the Wageners, have left the stage of humanlife; and our visitors on the Maryland side are gone and goinglikewise."

How many people have had like thoughts! One of the many sad things aboutbeing the "last leaf upon the tree" is having to watch the other leavesshrivel and drop off and to be left at last in utter loneliness.

Like her husband, Mrs. Washington was an early riser, and it was a habitshe seems to have kept up until the end. She rose with the sun andafter breakfast invariably retired to her room for an hour of prayer andreading the Scriptures. Her devotions over she proceeded with theordinary duties of the day.

She seems to have been somewhat fond of ceremony and to have had aconsiderable sense of personal dignity. A daughter of AugustineWashington, who when twelve years of age spent several weeks at MountVernon, related when an old woman that every morning precisely at eleveno'clock the mistress of the mansion expected her company to assemble inthe drawing-room, where she greeted them with much formality and keptthem an hour on their good behavior. When the clock struck twelve shewould rise and ascend to her chamber, returning thence precisely at one,followed by a black servant carrying an immense bowl of punch, fromwhich the guests were expected to partake before dinner. Some of theyounger girls became curious to discover why her "Ladyship" retired soinvariably to her room, so they slipped out from where she wasentertaining their mothers, crept upstairs and hid under her bed.Presently Lady Washington entered and took a seat before a large table.A man-servant then brought a large empty bowl, also lemons, sugar,spices and rum, with which she proceeded to prepare the punch. The youngpeople under the bed thereupon fell to giggling until finally she becameaware of their presence. Much offended, or at least pretending to be,she ordered them from the room. They retired with such precipitancy thatone of them fell upon the stairway and broke her arm.

Another story is to the effect that one morning Nelly Custis, MissDandridge and some other girls who were visiting Nelly came down tobreakfast dressed dishabille and with their hair done up in curl papers.Mrs. Washington did not rebuke them and the meal proceeded normallyuntil the announcement was made that some French officers of rank andyoung Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, who was interested in Miss Custis,had driven up outside, whereupon the foolish virgins sprang up to leavethe room in order to make more conventional toilets. But Mrs. Washingtonforbade their doing so, declaring that what was good enough for GeneralWashington was good enough for any guest of his.

She spoiled George Washington Custis as she had his father, but wasmore severe with Eleanor or Nelly. Washington bought the girl a fineimported harpsichord, which cost a thousand dollars and which is stillto be seen at Mount Vernon, and the grandmother made Nelly practise uponit four or five hours a day. "The poor girl," relates her brother,"would play and cry, and cry and play, for long hours, under theimmediate eye of her grandmother." For no shirking was allowed.

The truth would seem to be that Lady Washington was more severe with theyoung--always excepting Jacky and George--than was her husband. He wouldoften watch their games with evident enjoyment and would encourage themto continue their amusements and not to regard him. He was the confidantof their hopes and fears and even amid tremendous cares of state foundtime to give advice about their love affairs. For he was a very humanman, after all, by no means the marble statue sculptured by somehistorians.

Yet no doubt Mrs. Washington's severity proceeded from a sense of dutyand the fitness of things rather than from any harshness of heart. Thelittle old lady who wrote: "Kiss Marie. I send her two handkerchiefs towipe her nose," could not have been so very terrible!

She was beloved by her servants and when she left Mount Vernon for NewYork in 1789 young Robert Lewis reported that "numbers of these poorwretches seemed most affected, my aunt equally so." At Alexandria shestopped at Doctor Stuart's, the home of two of her grandchildren, andnext morning there was another affecting scene, such as Lewis neveragain wished to witness--"the family in tears--the children a-bawling--&everything in the most lamentable situation."

Although she was not the paragon that some writers have pictured, shewas a splendid home-loving American woman, brave in heart and helpful toher husband, neither a drone nor a drudge--in the true Scriptural sensea worthy woman who sought wool and flax and worked willingly with herhands. As such her price was far beyond rubies.

As has been remarked before, no brilliant sayings from her lips havebeen transmitted to posterity. But I suspect that the shivering soldierson the bleak hillsides at Valley Forge found more comfort in the warmsocks she knitted than they could have in the _bon mots_ of a Madame deStael or in the grace of a Josephine and that her homely interest intheir welfare tied their hearts closer to their Leader andtheir Country.

It is not merely because she was the wife of the Hero of the Revolutionand the first President of the Republic that she is the most revered ofall American women.

CHAPTER XIV

A FARMER'S AMUSEMENTS

No one would ever think of characterizing George Washington as frivolousminded, but from youth to old age he was a believer in the adage thatall work and no play makes Jack a dull boy--a saying that many anoverworked farmer of our own day would do well to take to heart.

Like most Virginians he was decidedly a social being and loved to be inthe company of his kind. This trait was noticeable in his youth andduring his early military career, nor did it disappear after he marriedand settled down at Mount Vernon. Until the end he and Mrs. Washingtonkept open house, and what a galaxy of company they had! Scarcely a daypassed without some guest crossing their hospitable threshold, nor didsuch visitors come merely to leave their cards or to pay fashionablefive-minute calls. They invariably stayed to dinner and most generallyfor the night; very often for days or weeks at a time. After theRevolution the number of guests increased to such an extent that MountVernon became "little better than a well-resorted inn."

Artists came to paint the great man's picture; the sculptor Houdon totake the great man's bust, arriving from Alexandria, by the way, afterthe family had gone to bed; the Marquis de Lafayette to visit his oldfriend; Mrs. Macaulay Graham to obtain material for her history; NoahWebster to consider whether he would become the tutor of young Custis;Mr. John Fitch, November 4, 1785, "to propose a draft & Model of amachine for promoting Navigation by means of a Steam"; Charles Thomson,secretary of the Continental Congress, to notify the General of hiselection to the presidency; a host of others, some out of friendship,others from mere curiosity or a desire for free lodging.

The visit of Lafayette was the last he made to this country while theman with whose fame his name is inseparably linked remained alive. Hevisited Mount Vernon in August, 1784, and again three months later. Whenthe time for a final adieu came Washington accompanied him to Annapolisand saw him on the road to Baltimore. The generous young benefactor ofAmerica was very dear to Washington, and the parting affected himexceedingly. Soon after he wrote to the departed friend a letter inwhich he showed his heart in a way that was rare with him. "In themoment of our separation," said he, "upon the road as I travelled, andevery hour since, I have felt all the love, respect, and attachment foryou with which length of years, close connextion, and your merits haveinspired me. I have often asked myself, as our carriages separated,whether that was the last sight I ever should have of you."

It was a true foreboding. Often in times that followed Washington was toreceive tidings of his friend's triumphs and perilous adventures amidthe bloody turmoil of the French Revolution, was to entertain his son atMount Vernon when the father lay in the dark dungeons of Olmuetz, but wasnever again to look into his face. Years later the younger man,revisiting the grateful Republic he had helped to found, was to turnaside from the acclaiming plaudits of admiring multitudes and standpensively beside the Tomb of his Leader and reflect upon the years inwhich they had stood gloriously shoulder to shoulder in defense of anoble cause.

Even when Washington was at the seat of government many persons stoppedat Mount Vernon and were entertained by the manager. Several times theabsent owner sent wine and other luxuries for the use of such guests.When he was at home friends, relatives, diplomats, delegations ofIndians to visit the Great White Father swarmed thither in shoals. In1797 young Lafayette and his tutor, Monsieur Frestel, whom Washingtonthought a very sensible man, made the place, by invitation, their homefor several months. In the summer of that year Washington wrote to hisold secretary, Tobias Lear: "I am alone at _present_, and shall be gladto see you this evening. Unless some one pops in unexpectedly--Mrs.Washington and myself will do what I believe has not been done withinthe last twenty Years by us,--that is to set down to dinner byourselves."

Washington was the soul of hospitality. He enjoyed having people in hishouse and eating at his board, but there is evidence that toward thelast he grew somewhat weary of the stream of strangers. But neither thennor at any other time in his life did he show his impatience to avisitor or turn any man from his door. His patience, was sorely tried attimes. For example, we find in his diary under date of September 7,1785: "At Night, a Man of the name of Purdie, came to offer himself tome as a Housekeeper or Household Steward--he had some testimonialsrespecting his character--but being intoxicated, and in other respectsappearing in an unfavorable light I informed him that he would notanswer my purpose, but that he might stay all night."

No matter how many visitors came the Farmer proceeded about his businessas usual, particularly in the morning, devoting dinner time and certainhours of the afternoon and evening to those who were sojourning withhim. He was obliged, in self-defense, to adopt some such course. Hewrote: "My manner of living is plain, and I do not mean to be put out byit. A glass of wine and a bit of mutton are always ready, and such aswill be content to partake of them are always welcome. Those who expectmore will be disappointed."

After his retirement from the presidency he induced his nephew LawrenceLewis to come to Mount Vernon and take over some of the duties ofentertaining guests, particularly in the evening, as Washington hadreached an age when he was averse to staying up late. Lewis not onlyperformed the task satisfactorily, but found incidental diversion thatled to matrimony.

Every visitor records that the Farmer was a kind and considerate host.Elkanah Watson relates that one bitter winter night at Mount Vernon,having a severe cold that caused him to cough incessantly, he heard thedoor of his chamber open gently and there stood the General with acandle in one hand and a bowl of hot tea in another. Doubtless Georgeand Martha had heard the coughing and in family council had decided thattheir guest must have attention.

Washington was a Cavalier, not a Puritan, and had none of the old NewEngland prejudice against the theater. In fact, it was one of hisfondest pleasures from youth to old age. In his Barbadoes journal herecords being "treated with a play ticket by Mr. Carter to see theTragedy of George Barnwell acted." In 1752 he attended a performance atFredericksburg and thereafter, whenever occasion offered, which duringhis earlier years was not often, he took advantage of it. He evenexpressed a desire to act himself. After his resignation and marriageopportunities were more frequent and in his cash memorandum books aremany entries of expenditures for tickets to performances at Alexandriaand elsewhere. Thus on September 20, 1768, in his daily record of_Where & how my time is Spent_ he writes that he "& Mrs. Washington & yetwo children were up to Alexandria to see the Inconstant or way to winhim acted." Next day he "Stayd in Town all day & saw the Tragedy ofDouglas playd."

Such performances were probably given by strolling players who had fewaccessories in the way of scenery to assist them in creating theirillusions.

In September, 1771, when at Annapolis to attend the races, he went toplays four times in five days, the fifth day being Sunday. Two yearslater, being in New York City, he saw _Hamlet_ and _Cross Purposes_.

On many occasions both in this period of his life and later he went tosleight of hand performances, wax works, puppet shows, animal shows, "tohear the Armonica," concerts and other entertainments.

The "association" resolutions of frugality and self-denial by theContinental Congress put an end temporarily to plays in the coloniesoutside the British lines and put Washington into a greater play, "not,as he once wished, as a performer, but as a character." There wereamateur performances at Valley Forge, but they aroused the hostility ofthe puritanical, and Congress forbade them. Washington seems, however,to have disregarded the interdiction after Yorktown.

He had few opportunities to gratify his fondness for performances in theperiod of 1784-89, but during his presidency, while residing in New Yorkand Philadelphia, he was a regular attendant. He gave frequent theaterparties, sending tickets to his friends. Word that he would attend aplay always insured a "full house," and upon his entrance to his box theorchestra would play _Hail Columbia_ and _Washington's March_ amid greatenthusiasm.

The _Federal Gazette_ described a performance of _The Maid of the Mill,_which he attended in 1792, as follows:

"When Mr. Hodgkinson as Lord Ainsworth exhibited nobleness of mind inhis generosity to the humble miller and his daughter, Patty; when hefound her blessed with all the qualities that captivate and endear life,and knew she was capable of adorning a higher sphere; when he hadinterviews with her upon the subject in which was painted theamiableness of an honorable passion; and after his connection, when hebestowed his benefactions on the relatives, etc., of the old miller, thegreat and good Washington manifested his approbation of thisinteresting part of the opera by the tribute of a tear."

Another amusement that both the Farmer and his wife enjoyed greatly wasdancing. In his youth he attended balls and "routs" whenever possibleand when fighting French and Indians on the frontier he felt as one ofhis main deprivations his inability to attend the "Assemblies." Afterhis marriage he and his wife went often to balls in Alexandria, attiredno doubt in all the bravery of imported English clothes. He describes aball of 1760 in these terms:

"Went to a ball at Alexandria, where Musick and dancing was the chiefentertainment, however, in a convenient room detached for the purposeabounded great plenty of bread and butter, some biscuits, with tea andcoffee, which the drinkers of could not distinguish from hot watersweet'ned--Be it remembered that pocket handkerchiefs served thepurposes of Table cloths & Napkins and that no apologies were made foreither. I shall therefore distinguish this ball by the stile and titleof the Bread & Butter Ball."

A certain Mr. Christian conducted a dancing school which met at thehomes of the patrons, and the Custis children, John Parke and Martha,were members, as were Elizabeth French of Rose Hill, Milly Posey andothers of the neighborhood young people. In 1770 the class met fourtimes at Mount Vernon and we can not doubt that occasionally the hostdanced with some of the young misses and enjoyed it.

An established institution was the election ball, which took place onthe night following the choice of the delegate to the Burgesses.Washington often contributed to the expenses of these balls,particularly when he was himself elected. No doubt they were noisy,hilarious and perhaps now and then a bit rough.

Much has been written of the dances by which Washington and his officersand their ladies helped to while away the tedium of long winters duringthe Revolution, but the story of these has been often told and besideslies outside the limits of this book, as does the dancing at New Yorkand Philadelphia during his presidency.

There is much conflicting evidence regarding Washington's later dancingexploits. Some writers say that he never tripped the light fantasticafter the Revolution and that one of his last participations was at theFredericksburg ball after the capture of Cornwallis when he "went downsome dozen couple in the contra dance." It is certain, however, thatlong afterward he would at least walk through one or two dances, eventhough he did not actually take the steps. One good lady who knew himwell asserts that he often danced with Nelly Custis, and he seems tohave danced in 1796 when he was sixty-four. But to the invitation to theAlexandria assembly early in 1799 he replied:

"Mrs. Washington and myself have been honored with your politeinvitation to the assemblies of Alexandria this winter, and thank youfor this mark of your attention. But, alas! our dancing days are nomore. We wish, however, all those who have a relish for so agreeable andinnocent an amusement all the pleasure the season will afford them."

Nor was he puritanical in respect to cards. From his account books wefind that he ordered them by the dozen packs, and his diaries containsuch entries as "At home all day over cards, it snowing." To increasethe interest he not infrequently played for money, though rarely for alarge amount. "Loo" and whist seem to have been the games played, butnot "bridge" or draw poker, which were then unknown.

From entries in his cash memorandum books it is evident that he loved aquiet game rather frequently. Thus in his memorandum for 1772 I find theentry for September five: "To Cash won at cards" L1.5. Four days laterhe writes: "To Cash won at Cards at Mrs. Calverts" ten shillings. But onSeptember 17th he lost L1.5; on September 30th, L2, and on October 5th,six shillings. Two days later his luck changed and he won L2.5, while onthe seventh he won L12.8. This was the most serious game that I havefound a record of, and the cards must either have run well for him orelse he had unskilful opponents. The following March, when attending theBurgesses at Williamsburg, he got into a game, probably at Mrs.Campbell's tavern, where he took his meals, and dropped L7.10.

In one of his account books I find two pages devoted to striking abalance between what he won and what he lost from January 7, 1772, toJanuary 1, 1775. In that time he won L72.2.6 and lost L78.5.9. Hence wefind the entry: "By balance against Play from Jany. 1772 to thisdate ... L6.3.3." But he must have had a lot of fun at a cost of thatsix pounds three shillings and three pence!

It should be remarked here that gaming was then differently regarded inVirginia from what it is now. Many even of the Episcopal clergymenplayed cards for money and still kept fast hold upon their belief thatthey would go to Heaven.

The same may also be said of lotteries, in which Washington now and thentook a flier. Many of the churches of that day, even in New England,were built partly or wholly with money raised in that way. January 5,1773, Washington states that he has received sixty tickets in theDelaware lottery from his friend Lord Stirling and that he has "put 12of the above Sixty into the Hands of the Revd. Mr. Magowan to sell." And"the Revd." sold them too!

In his journal of the trip to Barbadoes taken with his brother Lawrencewe find that on his way home he attended "a Great Main of cks [cocks]fought in Yorktown between Gloucester & York for 5 pistoles each battle& 10 ye. odd." Occasionally he seems to have witnessed other mains, butI have found no evidence that he made the practice in any sense a habit.

As a counterweight to his interest in so brutal a sport I must statethat he was exceedingly fond of afternoon teas and of the socialenjoyments connected with tea drinking. Tea was regularly served at hisarmy headquarters and in summer afternoons on the Mount Vernon veranda.

There is abundant evidence that he also enjoyed horse racing. InSeptember, 1768, he mentions going "to a Purse race at Accotinck," ahamlet a few miles below Mount Vernon where a race track was maintained.In 1772 he attended the Annapolis races, being a guest of the Governorof Maryland, and he repeated the trip in 1773. In the following May hewent to a race and barbecue at Johnson's Ferry. George Washington Custistells us that the Farmer kept blooded horses and that his colt"Magnolia" once ran for a purse, presumably losing, as if the event hadbeen otherwise we should probably have been informed of the fact. In1786 Washington went to Alexandria "to see the Jockey Club purse runfor," and I have noticed a few other references to races, but I concludethat he went less often than some writers would have us believe.

Washington was decidedly an outdoor man. Being six feet two inches tall,and slender rather than heavily made, he was well fitted for athleticsports. Tradition says that he once threw a stone across theRappahannock at a spot where no other man could do it, and that he couldoutjump any one in Virginia. He also excelled in the game of putting thebar, as a story related by the artist Peale bears witness.

Of outdoor sports he seems to have enjoyed hunting most. He probably hadmany unrecorded experiences with deer and turkeys when a surveyor andwhen in command upon the western border, but his main hunting adventureafter big game took place on his trip to the Ohio in 1770. Though theparty was on the move most of the time and was looking for rich landrather than for wild animals, they nevertheless took some hunts.

On October twenty-second, in descending the stretch of the Ohio near themouth of Little Beaver Creek and above the Mingo Town, they saw manywild geese and several kinds of duck and "killed five wild turkeys."Three days later they "saw innumerable quantities of turkeys, and manydeer watering and browsing on the shore side, some of which we killed."

He does not say whether they shot this game from the canoe or not, butprobably on sighting the game they would put to shore and then one ormore would steal up on the quarry. Their success was probably increasedby the fact that they had two Indians with them.

Few people are aware of the fact that what is now West Virginia and Ohiothen contained many buffaloes. Below the mouth of the Great Hockhockingthe voyagers came upon a camp of Indians, the chief of which, an oldfriend who had accompanied him to warn out the French in 1753, gaveWashington "a quarter of very fine buffalo." A creek near the camp,according to the Indians, was an especial resort for these great beasts.

Fourteen miles up the Great Kanawha the travelers took a day off and"went a hunting; killed five buffaloes and wounded some others, threedeer, &c. This country abounds in buffaloes and wild game of all kinds;as also in all kinds of wild fowls, there being in the bottoms a greatmany small grassy ponds, or lakes, which are full of swans, geese, andducks of different kinds."

How many of the buffaloes fell to his gun Washington does not record,but it is safe to assume that he had at least some shots at them. Andbeyond question he helped to devour the delicious buffalo humps, thesebeing, with the flesh of the bighorn sheep, the _ne plus ultra_ ofAmerican big game delicacies.

The region in which these events took place was also notable for its bigtrees. Near the mouth of the Kanawha they "met with a sycamore aboutsixty yards from the river of a most extraordinary size, it measuring,three feet from the ground, forty-five feet round [almost fifteen feetthrough], lacking two inches; and not fifty yards from it was another,thirty-one feet round."

When at home, Washington now and then took a gun and went out afterducks, "hairs," wild turkeys and other game, and occasionally he recordsfair bags of mallards, teal, bald faces and "blew wings," one of thebest being that of February 18, 1768, when he "went a ducking betweenbreakfast and dinner & killed 2 mallards & 5 bald faces." It is doubtfulwhether he was at all an expert shot. In fact, he much preferred chasingthe fox with dogs to hunting with a gun.

Fox hunting in the Virginia of that day was a widely followed sport. Itwas brought over from England and perhaps its greatest devotee was oldLord Fairfax, with whom Washington hunted when still in his teens.Fairfax, whose seat was at Greenway Court in the Shenandoah Valley, wasso passionately fond of it that if foxes were scarce near his home hewould go to a locality where they were plentiful, would establishhimself at an inn and would keep open house and welcome every person ofgood character and respectable appearance who cared to join him.

The following are some typical entries from Washington's _Where & how mytime is Spent_: "Jany. 1st. (1768) Fox huntg. in my own Neck with Mr.Robt. Alexander and Mr. Colville--catchd nothing--Captn. Posey with us."There were many similar failures and no successes in the next six weeks,but on February twelfth he records joyfully, "Catchd two foxes," and onthe thirteenth "catch 2 more foxes." March 2, 1768, "Hunting again, &catchd a fox with a bobd Tail & cut Ears, after 7 hours chase in wch.most of the dogs were worsted." March twenty-ninth, "Fox Hunting withJacky Custis & Ld. [Lund] Washington--Catchd a fox after 3 hrs. chase."November twenty-second, "Went a fox huntg. with Lord Fairfax & Colo.Fairfax & my Br. Catchd 2 Foxes." For two weeks thereafter they huntedalmost every day with varying success. September 30, 1769, he records:"catchd a Rakoon."

On January 27, 1770, the dogs ran a deer out of the Neck and some ofthem did not get home till next day. The finding of a deer was nouncommon experience, but on no occasion does the chase seem to have beensuccessful, as, when hard pressed, the fugitive would take to the waterwhere the dogs could not follow. January 4, 1772, the hunters "foundboth a Bear and a Fox but got neither."

Bear and deer were still fairly plentiful in the region, and the factserves to indicate that the country was not yet thickly settled, nor isit to this day.

In November, 1771, Washington and Jack Custis went to Colonel Mason's atGunston Hall, a few miles below Mount Vernon, to engage in a grand deerdrive in which many men and dogs took part. Mason had an estate of tenthousand acres which was favorably located for such a purpose, beingnearly surrounded by water, with peninsulas on which the game could becornered and forced to take to the river. On the first day they killedtwo deer, but on the second they killed nothing. No doubt they had ahilarious time of it, dogs baying, horsemen dashing here and thereshouting at the top of their voices, and with plenty of fat venison andother good cheer at the Hall that night.

Washington's most remarkable hunting experience occurred on thetwenty-third of January, 1770, when he records: "Went a hunting afterbreakfast & found a Fox at Muddy hole & killed her (it being a Bitch)after a chase of better than two hours & after treeing her twice thelast of which times she fell dead out of the Tree after being thereinsevl. minutes apparently well." Lest he may be accused of nature faking,it should be explained that the tree was a leaning tree. Occasionallythe foxes also took refuge in hollow trees, up which they could climb.

The day usually ended by all the hunters riding to Mount Vernon,Belvoir, Gunston Hall, or some other mansion for a bountiful dinner.Mighty then were the gastronomic feats performed, and over the Madeirathe incidents of the day were discussed as Nimrods in all ages arewont to do.

Being so much interested in fox hunting, our Farmer proceeded, with hisusual painstaking care, to build up a pack of hounds. The year 1768 wasprobably the period of his greatest interest in the subject and hisdiary is full of accounts of the animals. Hounds were now, in fact, hishobby, succeeding in interest his horses. He did his best to breedaccording to scientific principles, but several entries show that thedogs themselves were inclined blissfully to ignore the laws of eugenicsas applied to hounds.

Among his dogs in this period were "Mopsey," "Taster," "Tipler," "Cloe,""Lady," "Forester" and "Captain." August 6, 1768, we learn that "Lady"has four puppies, which are to be called "Vulcan," "Searcher," "Rover,"and "Sweetlips."

Like all dog owners he had other troubles with his pets. Once we findhim anointing all the hounds that had the mange "with Hogs Lard &Brimstone." Again his pack is menaced by a suspected mad dog, whichhe shoots.

The Revolution broke rudely in upon the Farmer's sports, but upon hisreturn to Mount Vernon he soon took up the old life. Knowing his bent,Lafayette sent him a pack of French hounds, two dogs and three bitches,and Washington took much interest in them. According to GeorgeWashington Custis they were enormous brutes, better built for grapplingstags or boars than chasing foxes, and so fierce that a huntsman had topreside at their meals. Their kennel stood a hundred yards south of theold family vault, and Washington visited them every morning and evening.According to Custis, it was the Farmer's desire to have them so evenlymatched and trained that if one leading dog should lose the scent,another would be at hand to recover it and thus in full cry you mightcover the pack with a blanket.

The biggest of the French hounds, "Vulcan," was so vast that he wasoften ridden by Master Custis and he seems to have been a ratherprivileged character. Once when company was expected to dinner Mrs.Washington ordered that a lordly ham should be cooked and served. Atdinner she noticed that the ham was not in its place and inquirydeveloped that "Vulcan" had raided the kitchen and made off with themeat. Thereupon, of course, the mistress scolded and equally, of course,the master smiled and gleefully told the news to the guests.

Billy Lee, the colored valet who had followed the General through theRevolution, usually acted as huntsman and, mounted on "Chinkling" orsome other good steed, with a French horn at his back, strove hard tokeep the pack in sight, no easy task among the rough timber-coveredhills of Fairfax County.

On a hunting day the Farmer breakfasted by candlelight, generally uponcorn cakes and milk, and at daybreak, with his guests, Billy and thehounds, sallied forth to find a fox. Washington always rode a good horseand sometimes wore a blue coat, scarlet waistcoat, buckskin breeches,top boots and velvet cap and carried a whip with a long thong. When afox was started none rode more gallantly or cheered more joyously thandid he and as a rule he was in at the death, for, as Jefferson asserts,he was "the best horseman of his age, and the most magnificent figurethat could be seen on horseback."

The fox that was generally hunted was the gray fox, which was indigenousto the country. After the Revolution the red fox began to be seenoccasionally. They are supposed to have come from the Eastern Shore, andto have crossed Chesapeake Bay on the ice in the hard winter of 1779-80.Custis tells of a famous black fox that would go ten or twenty milesbefore the hounds and return to the starting-point ready for another runnext day. After many unsuccessful chases Billy recommended that theblack reynard be let alone, saying he was near akin to another sableand wily character. Thereafter the huntsman was always careful to throwoff the hounds when he suspected that they were on the trail of theblack fox. This story may or may not be true; all that I can say is thatI have found no confirmation of it in Washington's own writings.

Neither have I found there any confirmation of the story that Mrs.Washington and other ladies often rode out to see the hunts. Washingtonhad avenues cut through some of his woods to facilitate the sport andpossibly to make the riding easier for the ladies. Upon the whole,however, I incline to the opinion that generally at least Martha stayedat home visiting with lady friends, attending to domestic concerns andsuperintending the preparation of delectable dishes for the hungryhunters. I very much doubt whether she would have enjoyed seeing afox killed.

The French hounds were, at least at first, rather indifferent hunters."Went out after Breakfast with my hounds from France, & two which werelent me, yesterday, by Mr. Mason," says the Farmer the day of the firsttrial; "found a Fox which was run tolerably well by two of the Frh.Bitches & one of Mason's Dogs--the other French dogs shewed but littledisposition to follow--and with the second Dog of Mason's got uponanother Fox which was followed slow and indifferently by some & not atall by the rest until the sent became so cold it cd. not be followedat all."

Two days later the dogs failed again and the next time they ran twofoxes and caught neither, but their master thought they performed betterthan hitherto, December 12th:

"After an early breakfast [my nephew] George Washington, Mr. Shaw andMyself went into the Woods back of the Muddy hole Plantation a huntingand were joined by Mr. Lund Washington and Mr. William Peake. About halfafter ten O'clock (being first plagued with the Dogs running Hogs) wefound a fox near Colo Masons Plantation on little Hunting Creek (Westfork) having followed on his Drag more than half a Mile; and run himwith Eight Dogs (the other 4 getting, as was supposed after a SecondFox) close and well for an hour. When the Dogs came to a fault and tocold Hunting until 20 minutes after when being joined by the missingDogs they put him up afresh and in about 50 Minutes killed up in an openfield of Colo Mason's every Rider & every Dog being present atthe Death."

Eight days later the pack chased two foxes, but caught neither. The nexthunt is described as follows:

"Went a Fox hunting with the Gentlemen who came here yesterday withFerdinando Washington and Mr. Shaw, after a very early breakfast.--founda Fox just back of Muddy hole Plantation and after a Chase for an hourand a quarter with my Dogs, & eight couple of Doctor Smiths (brought byMr. Phil Alexander) we put him into a hollow tree, in which we fastenedhim, and in the Pincushion put up another Fox which, in an hour and 13Minutes was killed--We then after allowing the Fox in the hole half anhour put the Dogs upon his Trail & in half a Mile he took to anotherhollow tree and was again put out of it but he did not go 600 yardsbefore he had recourse to the same shift--finding therefore that he wasa conquered Fox we took the Dogs off, and came home to dinner."

[Illustration: The Flower Garden, By permission of the Mount VernonLadies' Association]

Custis asserts that Washington took his last hunt in 1785, but in thediary under date of December 22, 1787, I find that he went out withMajor George A. Washington and others on that day, but found nothing,and that he took still another hunt in January, 1788, and chased a foxthat had been captured the previous month. This, however, is the lastreference that I have discovered. No doubt he was less resilient than inhis younger days and found the sport less delightful than of yore, whilethe duties of the presidency, to which he was soon called, left himlittle leisure for sport. He seems to have broken up his kennels and tohave given away most or all of his hounds.

Later he acquired a pair of "tarriers" and took enough interest in themto write detailed instructions concerning them in 1796.

Washington's fishing was mostly done with a seine as a commercialproposition, but he seems to have had a mild interest in angling.Occasionally he took trips up and down the Potomac in order to fish,sometimes with a hook and line, at other times with seines and nets. Heand Doctor Craik took fishing tackle with them on both their westerntours and made use of it in some of the mountain streams and also in theOhio. While at the Federal Convention in 1787 he and Gouverneur Morriswent up to Valley Forge partly perhaps to see the old camp, butostensibly to fish for trout. They lodged at the home of a widow namedMoore. On the trip the Farmer learned the Pennsylvania way of raisingbuckwheat and, it must be confessed, wrote down much more about thistopic than about trout. A few days later, with Gouverneur Morris and Mr.and Mrs. Robert Morris, he went up to Trenton and "in the eveningfished," with what success he does not relate. When on his eastern tourof 1789 he went outside the harbor of Portsmouth to fish for cod, butthe tide was unfavorable and they caught only two. More fortunate was atrip off Sandy Hook the next year, which was thus described by anewspaper:

"Yesterday afternoon the President of the United States returned fromSandy Hook and the fishing banks, where he had been for the benefit ofthe sea air, and to amuse himself in the delightful recreation offishing. We are told he has had excellent sport, having himself caught agreat number of sea-bass and black fish--the weather proved remarkablyfine, which, together with the salubrity of the air and wholesomeexercise, rendered this little voyage extremely agreeable."

Our Farmer was extremely fond of fish as an article of diet and tookgreat pains to have them on his table frequently. At Mount Vernon therewas an ancient black man, reputed to be a centenarian and the son of anAfrican King, whose duty it was to keep the household supplied withfish. On many a morning he could be seen out on the river in his skiff,beguiling the toothsome perch, bass or rock-fish. Not infrequently hewould fall asleep and then the impatient cook, who had orders to havedinner strictly upon the hour, would be compelled to seek the shore androar at him. Old Jack would waken and upon rowing to shore would inquireangrily: "What you all mek such a debbil of a racket for hey? I wa'ntasleep, only noddin'."

Another colored factotum about the place was known as Tom Davis, whoseduty it was to supply the Mansion House with game. With the aid of hisold British musket and of his Newfoundland dog "Gunner" he secured manya canvasback and mallard, to say nothing of quails, turkeys andother game.

After the Revolution Washington formed a deer park below the hill onwhich the Mansion House stands. The park contained about one hundredacres and was surrounded by a high paling about sixteen hundred yardslong. At first he had only Virginia deer, but later acquired someEnglish fallow deer from the park of Governor Ogle of Maryland. Bothvarieties herded together, but never mixed blood. The deer werecontinually getting out and in February, 1786, one returned with abroken leg, "supposed to be by a shot." Seven years later an Englishbuck that had broken out weeks before was killed by some one. Thepaddock fence was neglected and ultimately the deer ran half wild overthe estate, but in general stayed in the wooded region surrounding theMansion House. The gardener frequently complained of damage done by themto shrubs and plants, and Washington said he hardly knew "whether togive up the Shrubs or the Deer!" The spring before his death we find himwriting to the brothers Chickesters warning them to cease hunting hisdeer and he hints that he may come to "the disagreeable necessity ofresorting to other means."

George Washington Custis, being like his father "Jacky" an enthusiastichunter, long teased the General to permit him to hunt the deer and atlast won consent to shoot one buck. The lad accordingly loaded an oldBritish musket with two ounce-balls, sallied forth and wounded one ofthe patriarchs of the herd, which was then chased into the Potomac andthere slain. Next day the buck was served up to several guests, andCustis long afterward treasured the antlers at Arlington House, theresidence he later built across the Potomac from the Federal City.

Upon the whole we must conclude that Washington was one of the bestsportsmen of all our Presidents. He was not so much of an Izaak Waltonas was one of his successors, nor did he pursue the lion and festivebongo to their African lairs as did another, but he had a keen love ofnature and the open country and would have found both the Mighty Hunterand the Mighty Angler kindred spirits.

CHAPTER XV

A CRITICAL VISITOR AT MOUNT VERNON

About thirty miles down the river Potomac, a gentleman, of the name ofGrimes, came up to us in his own boat[8]. He had some little timebefore shot a man who was going across his plantation; and had beentried for so doing, but not punished. He came aboard, and behaved verypolitely to me: and it being near dinner time, he would have me goashore and dine with him: which I did. He gave me some grape-juice todrink, which he called Port wine, and entertained me with saying he madeit himself: it was not to my taste equal to our Port in England, noreven strong beer; but a hearty welcome makes everything pleasant, andthis he most cheerfully gave me. He showed me his garden; the produce ofwhich, he told me, he sold at Alexandria, a distance of thirty miles.His garden was in disorder: and so was everything else I saw about theplace; except a favourite stallion, which was in very good condition--apretty figure of a horse, and of proper size for the road, about fifteenhands high. He likewise showed me some other horses, brood-mares andfoals, young colts, &c. of rather an useful kind. His cattle were small,but all much better than the land.

[8] This chapter is taken from _A Tour of America in 1798, 1799, and1800_, by Richard Parkinson, who has already been several times quoted.Parkinson had won something of a name in England as a scientificagriculturist and had published a book called the _Experienced Farmer_.He negotiated by letter with Washington for the rental of one of theMount Vernon farms, and in 1798, without having made any definiteengagement, sailed for the Potomac with a cargo of good horses, cattleand hogs. His plan for renting Washington's farm fell through, by hisaccount because it was so poor, and ultimately he settled for a timenear Baltimore, where he underwent such experiences as an opinionatedEnglishman with new methods would be likely to meet. Soured by failure,he returned to England, and published an account of his travels, partlywith the avowed purpose of discouraging emigration to America. Hisopinion of the country he summed up thus: "If a man should be sounfortunate as to have married a wife of a capricious disposition, lethim take her to America, and keep her there three or four years in acountry-place at some distance from a town, and afterwards bring herback to England; if she do not act with propriety, he may be sure thereis no remedy." I have rearranged his account in such a way as to make itconsecutive, but otherwise it stands as originally published.

He praised the soil very highly. I asked him if he was acquainted withthe land at Mount Vernon. He said he was; and represented it to be richland, but not so rich as his. Yet his I thought very poor indeed; forit was (as is termed in America) _gullied_; which I call broken land.This effect is produced by the winter's frost and summer's rain, whichcut the land into cavities of from ten feet wide and ten feet deep (andupwards) in many places; and, added to this, here and there a hole,which makes it look altogether like marlpits, or stone-quarries, thathave been carried away by those hasty showers in the summer, which noman who has not seen them in this climate could form any idea of orbelieve possible....

In two days after we left this place, we came in sight of Mount Vernon;but in all the way up the river, I did not see any green fields. Thecountry had to me a most barren appearance. There were none butsnake-fences; which are rails laid with the ends of one upon another,from eight to sixteen in number in one length. The surface of the earthlooked like a yellow-washed wall; for it had been a very dry summer; andthere was not any thing that I could see green, except the pine trees inthe woods, and the cedars, which made a truly picturesque view as wesailed up the Potomac. It is indeed a most beautiful river.

When we arrived at Mount Vernon, I found that General Washington was atPhiladelphia; but his steward[9] had orders from the General to receiveme and my family, with all the horses, cattle, &c. which I had on board.A boat was, therefore, got ready for landing them; but that could not bedone, as the ship must be cleared out at some port before anything wasmoved: so, after looking about a few minutes at Mount Vernon, I returnedto the ship, and we began to make way for Alexandria....

[9] No doubt Anderson, Washington's last manager.

When I had been about seven days at Alexandria, I hired a horse and wentto Mount Vernon, to view my intended farm; of which General Washingtonhad given me a plan, and a report along with it--the rent being fixed ateighteen hundred bushels of wheat for twelve hundred acres, or moneyaccording to the price of that grain. I must confess that if he wouldhave given me the inheritance of the land for that sum, I durst not haveaccepted it, especially with the incumbrances upon it; viz. one hundredseventy slaves young and old, and out of that number onlytwenty-seven[10] in a condition to work, as the steward represented tome. I viewed the whole of the cultivated estate--about three thousandacres; and afterward dined with Mrs. Washington and the family. Here Imet a Doctor Thornton, who is a very pleasant agreeable man, and hislady; with a Mr. Peters and his lady, who was a grand-daughter of Mrs.Washington. Doctor Thornton living at the city of Washington, he gave mean invitation to visit him there: he was one of the commissioners ofthe city.

[10] Most certainly a mistake.

I slept at Mount Vernon, and experienced a very kind and comfortablereception; but did not like the land at all. I saw no green grass there,except in the garden: and this was some English grass, appearing to meto be a sort of couch-grass; it was in drills. There were also sixsaintfoin plants, which I found the General valued highly. I viewed theoats which were not thrashed, and counted the grains upon each head; butfound no stem with more than four grains, and these a very light and badquality, such as I had never seen before: the longest straw was of abouttwelve inches. The wheat was all thrashed, therefore I could notascertain the produce of that: I saw some of the straw, however, andthought it had been cut and prepared for the cattle in the winter; but Ibelieve I was mistaken, it being short by nature, and with thrashing outlooked like chaff, or as if chopped with a bad knife. The General hadtwo thrashing machines, the power given by horses. The clover was verylittle in bulk, and like chaff; not more than nine inches long, and theleaf very much shed from the stalk. By the stubbles on the land I couldnot tell which had been wheat, or which had been oats or barley; norcould I see any clover-roots where the clover had grown. The weather washot and dry at that time; it was in December. The whole of the differentfields were covered with either the stalks of weeds, corn-stalks, orwhat is called sedge--something like spear-grass upon the poor limestonein England; and the steward told me nothing would eat it, which is true.Indeed, he found fault with everything, just like a foreigner; and eventold me many unpleasant tales of the General, so that I began to thinkhe feared I was coming to take his place. But (God knows!) I would notchoose to accept of it: for he had to superintend four hundred slaves,and there would be more now. This part of his business especially wouldhave been painful to me; it is, in fact, a sort of trade of itself.

I had not in all this time seen what we in England call a corn-stack,nor a dung-hill. There were, indeed, behind the General's barns, two orthree cocks of oats and barley; but such as an English broad-wheeledwaggon would have carried a hundred miles at one time with ease. Neitherhad I seen a green plant of any kind: there was some clover of the firstyear's sowing: but in riding over the fields I should not have known itto be clover, although the steward told me it was; only when I cameunder a tree I could, by favour of the shade, perceive here and there agreen leaf of clover, but I do not remember seeing a green root. I wasshown no grass-hay of any kind; nor do I believe there was any.

The cattle were very poor and ordinary, and the sheep the same; nor didI see any thing I liked except the mules, which were very fine ones, andin good condition. Mr. Gough had made a present to General Washington ofa bull calf. The animal was shown to me when I first landed at MountVernon, and was the first bull I saw in the country. He was large, andvery strong-featured; the largest part was his head, the next his legs.The General's steward was a Scotchman, and no judge of animals--a betterjudge of distilling whiskey.

I saw here a greater number of negroes than I ever saw at one time,either before or since.

The house is a very decent mansion: not large, and something like agentleman's house in England, with gardens and plantations; and is veryprettily situated on the banks of the river Potowmac, with extensiveprospects.... The roads are very bad from Alexandria to Mount Vernon.

The General still continuing at Philadelphia, I could not have thepleasure of seeing him; therefore I returned to Alexandria.

I returned [to Mount Vernon some weeks later] ... to see GeneralWashington. I dined with him; and he showed me several presents that hadbeen sent him, viz. swords, china, and among the rest the key of theBastille. I spent a very pleasant day in the house, as the weather wasso severe that there were no farming objects to see, the ground beingcovered with snow.

Would General Washington have given me the twelve hundred acres I wouldnot have accepted it, to have been confined to live in that country; andto convince the General of the cause of my determination, I wascompelled to treat him with a great deal of frankness. The General, whohad corresponded with Mr. Arthur Young and others on the subject ofEnglish farming and soils, and had been not a little flattered bydifferent gentlemen from England, seemed at first to be not wellpleased with my conversation; but I gave him some strong proofs of hismistakes, by making a comparison between the lands in America and thoseof England in two respects.

First, in the article of sheep. He supposed himself to have fine sheep,and a great quantity of them. At the time of my viewing his five farms,which consisted of about three thousand acres cultivated, he had onehundred sheep, and those in very poor condition. This was in the monthof November. To show him his mistake in the value and quality of hisland, I compared this with the farm my father occupied, which was lessthan six hundred acres. He clipped eleven hundred sheep, though some ofhis land was poor and at two shillings and sixpence per acre--thehighest was at twenty shillings; the average weight of the wool was tenpounds per fleece, and the carcases weighed from eighty to one hundredtwenty pounds each: while in the General's hundred sheep on threethousand acres, the wool would not weigh on an average more than threepounds and a half the fleece, and the carcases at forty-eight poundseach. Secondly, the proportion of the produce in grain was similar. TheGeneral's crops were from two to three[11] bushels of wheat per acre;and my father's farm, although poor clay soil, gave from twenty tothirty bushels.

[11] A misstatement, of course.

During this conversation Colonel Lear, aide-de-camp to the General, waspresent. When the General left the room, the Colonel told me he hadhimself been in England, and had seen Arthur Young (who had beenfrequently named by the General in our conversation); and that Mr. Younghaving learnt that he was in the mercantile line, and was possessed ofmuch land, had said he thought he was a great fool to be a merchant andyet have so much land; the Colonel replied, that if Mr. Young had thesame land to cultivate, it would make a great fool of _him_. The Coloneldid me the honour to say I was the only man he ever knew to treatGeneral Washington with frankness.

The General's cattle at that time were all in poor condition: except hismules (bred from American mares), which were very fine, and the Spanishass sent to him as a present by the king of Spain. I felt myself muchvexed at an expression used at dinner by Mrs. Washington. When theGeneral and the company at table were talking about the fine horses andcattle I had brought from England, Mrs. Washington said, "I am afraid,Mr. Parkinson, you have brought your fine horses and cattle to a badmarket; I am of opinion that our horses and cattle are good enough forour land." I thought that if every old woman in the country knew this,my speculation would answer very ill: as I perfectly agreed with Mrs.Washington in sentiment; and wondered much, from the poverty of theland, to see the cattle good as they were.

The General wished me to stay all night; but having some otherengagement, I declined his kind offer. He sent Colonel Lear out after Ihad parted with him, to ask me if I wanted any money; which Igladly accepted.

CHAPTER XVI

PROFIT AND LOSS

A biographer whose opinions about Washington are usually sound concludesthat the General was a failure as a farmer. With this opinion I amunable to agree and I am inclined to think that in forming it he had inmind temporary financial stringencies and perhaps a comparison betweenWashington and the scientific farmers of to-day instead of the justercomparison with the farmers of that day. For if Washington was afailure, then nine-tenths of the Southern planters of his day were alsofailures, for their methods and results were much worse than his.

It must be admitted, however, that comparatively little of his fortune,which amounted at his death to perhaps three-quarters of a milliondollars, was made by the sale of products from his farm. Few farmershave grown rich in that way. Washington's wealth was due in part toinheritance and a fortunate marriage, but most of all to the incrementon land. Part of this land he received as a reward for militaryservices, but much of it he was shrewd enough to buy at a low rate andhold until it became more valuable.

The task of analyzing his fortune and income in detail is an impossibleone for a number of reasons. We do not have all the facts of hisfinancial operations and even if we had there are other difficulties. Afarmer, unlike a salaried man, can not tell with any exactness what histrue income is. The salaried man can say, "This year I received fourthousand dollars," The farmer can only say--if he is the one in ahundred who keeps accounts--"Last year I took in two thousand dollars orfive thousand dollars," as the case may be. From this sum he must deductexpenses for labor, wear and tear of farm machinery, pro rata cost ofnew tools and machinery, loss of soil fertility, must take into accountthe fact that some of the stock sold has been growing for one, two ormore years, must allow for the butter and eggs bartered for groceriesand for the value of the two cows he traded for a horse, must add thevalue of the rent of the house and grounds he and his family haveenjoyed, the value of the chickens, eggs, vegetables, fruit, milk, meatand other produce of the farm consumed--as he proceeds the problembecomes infinitely more complex until at last he gives it upas hopeless.

This much, however, is plain--a farmer can handle much less money than asalaried man and yet live infinitely better, for his rent, much of hisfood and many other things cost him nothing.

In Washington's case the problem is further complicated by a number ofcircumstances. As a result of his marriage he had some money upon bond.For his military services in the French war he received large grants ofland and the payment during the Revolution of his personal expenses, andas President he had a salary of twenty-five thousand dollars a year.

Yet another difficulty discloses itself when we come to examine his cashaccounts. We find, for example, that from August 3, 1775, to September,1783, leaving out of the reckoning his military receipts, he took in atotal of about eighty thousand one hundred sixty-seven pounds. What thenmore simple than to divide this sum by seven and ascertain his averagereceipts during the years of the Revolution? But when we come to examinesome of the details more closely we are brought to pause. We discoversuch facts as that in 1780 a small steer, supposed to weigh about threehundred pounds, brought five hundred pounds in money! A sheep sold forone hundred pounds; six thousand five hundred sixty-nine pounds ofdressed beef brought six thousand five hundred sixty-nine pounds; thestud fee for "Steady" was sixty pounds. In other words, the accounts inthese years were in depreciated paper and utterly worthless for ourpurposes. Washington himself gave the puzzle up in despair toward theend of the war and paid his manager in produce, not money.

We of to-day have, in fact, not the faintest conception of the blessingwe enjoy in a uniform and fairly stable monetary system. Even before thedays of the "Continentals" there was depreciated paper afloat that hadbeen issued by the colonial governments and, unless the fact isdefinitely stated, when we come upon figures of that period we can neverbe sure whether they refer to pounds sterling or pounds paper, or, ifthe latter, what kind of paper. People had to be constantly figuring thereal value of Pennsylvania money, or Virginia money or Massachusettsmoney, and one meets with many such calculations on the blank leaves ofWashington's account books. Even metallic money was a Chinese puzzleexcept to the initiated, there were so many kinds of it afloat. Amongour Farmer's papers I have found a list of the money that he took withhim to Philadelphia on one occasion--6 joes, 67 half joes, 2one-eighteenth joes, 3 doubloons, 1 pistole, 2 moidores, 1 half moidore,2 double louis d'or, 3 single louis d'or, 80 guineas, 7 half guineas,besides silver and bank-notes.

The depreciation of the paper currency during the Revolution proveddisastrous to him in several ways. When the war broke out much of themoney he had obtained by marriage was loaned out on bond, or, as wewould say to-day, on mortgage. "I am now receiving," he soon wrote, "ashilling in the pound in discharge of Bonds which ought to have beenpaid me, & would have been realized before I left Virginia, but for myindulgences to the debtors." In 1778 he said that six or seven thousandpounds that he had in bonds upon interest had been paid in depreciatedpaper, so that the real value was now reduced to as many hundreds. Someof the paper money that came into his hands he invested in governmentsecurities, and at least ten thousand pounds of these in Virginia moneywere ultimately funded by the federal government for six thousand twohundred and forty-six dollars in three and six per cent. bonds.

And yet, by examining Washington's accounts, one is able to estimate ina rough way the returns he received from his estate, landed andotherwise. We find that in ten months of 1759 he took in L1,839; fromJanuary 1, 1760, to January 10, 1761, about L2,535; in 1772, L3,213;from August 3, 1775, to August 30, 1776, L2,119; in 1786, L2,025; in1791, about L2,025. Included in some of these entries, particularly theearlier ones, are payments of interest and principal on his wife's shareof the Custis estate. Of the later ones, that for 1786--a bad farmingyear--includes rentals on more than a score of parcels of land amountingto L282.15, L25 rental on his fishery, payments for flour, studfees, etc.

Upon the average, therefore, I am inclined to believe that his annualreceipts were roughly in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars tofifteen thousand dollars a year from his estate.

As regards Mount Vernon alone, he sometimes made estimates of what thecrop returns ought to be; in other words, counted his chickens beforethey were hatched. Thus in 1789 he drew up alternative plans andestimated that one of these, if adopted, ought to produce crops worth agross of L3,091, another L3,831, and a third L4,449, but that from thesesums L1,357, L1,394 and L1,445 respectively would have to be deductedfor seed, food for man and beasts, and other expenses.

A much better idea of the financial returns from his home estate can beobtained from his actual balances of gain and loss. One of these, namelyfor 1798, which was a poor year, was as follows:

Mr. Paul Leicester Ford considered this "a pretty poor showing for anestate and negroes which had certainly cost him over fifty thousanddollars, and on which there was live stock which at the lowestestimation was worth fifteen thousand dollars more." In some respects itwas a poor showing. Yet the profit Washington sets down is about sevenper cent. upon sixty-five thousand dollars, and seven per cent. is morethan the average farmer makes off his farm to-day except through theappreciation in the value of the land. The truth is, however, that MountVernon, including the live stock and slaves, was really worth in 1798nearer two hundred thousand dollars than sixty-five thousand, so thatthe actual return would only be about two and a fourth per cent.

But Washington failed to include in his receipts many items, such as theuse of a fine mansion for himself and family, the use of horses andvehicles, and the added value of slaves and live stock bynatural increase.

Besides in some other years the profits were much larger.

And lastly, in judging a man's success or failure as a farmer, allowancemust be made for the kind of land that he has to farm. The Mount Vernonland was undoubtedly poor in quality, and it is probable that Washingtongot more out of it than has ever been got out of it by any other personeither before or since. Much of it to-day must not pay taxes.

Washington died possessed of property worth about three-quarters of amillion, although he began life glad to earn a doubloon a day surveying.The main sources of this wealth have already been indicated, but whenall allowance is made in these respects, the fact remains that he wascompelled to make a living and to keep expenses paid during the fortyyears in which the fortune was accumulating, and the main source he drewfrom was his farms. Not much of that living came from the Custis estate,for, as we have seen, a large part of the money thus acquired was lost.During his eight years as Commander-in-Chief he had his expenses--nomore. Of the eight years of his presidency much the same can be said,for all authorities agree that he expended all of his salary inmaintaining his position and some say that he spent more. Yet at the endof his life we find him with much more land than he had in 1760, withvaluable stocks and bonds, a house and furniture infinitely superior tothe eight-room house he first owned, two houses in the Federal City thathad cost him about $15,000, several times as many negroes, and livestock estimated by himself at $15,653 and by his manager at upward oftwice that sum.

Such being the case--and as no one has ever ventured even to hint thathe made money corruptly out of his official position--the conclusion isirresistible that he was a good business man and that he made farmingpay, particularly when he was at home.

It is true that only three months before his death he wrote: "Theexpense at which I live, and the unproductiveness of my estate, will notallow me to lessen my income while I remain in my present situation. Onthe contrary, were it not for occasional supplies of money in paymentfor lands sold within the last four or five years, to the amount of